Europe

Turkey: 4 soldiers killed in PKK attack on military vehicle

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Police search an area after a bomb attack in Mardin, Turkey, Wednesday, Aug 10, 2016. A wave of Kurdish rebel attacks targeting police and soldiers in Turkey's mainly-Kurdish southeast killed at least 12 people on Wednesday, as Turkey was still dealing with the aftermath of a military coup attempt. (Mehmet Ali Dinler/ DHA via AP) (The Associated Press)

Police search an area after a bomb attack in Mardin, Turkey, Wednesday, Aug 10, 2016. A wave of Kurdish rebel attacks targeting police and soldiers in Turkey's mainly-Kurdish southeast killed at least 12 people on Wednesday, as Turkey was still dealing with the aftermath of a military coup attempt. (Neriman Celebi/ IHA via AP) (The Associated Press)

Turkey's state-run news agency says Kurdish rebels have attacked soldiers near the border with Iraq, killing four of them.

Anadolu Agency says nine other soldiers were wounded in Wednesday's attack in the mainly Kurdish province of Sirnak.

It blamed the attack on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, without providing details.

The private Dogan news agency said the rebels attacked military vehicles with improvised explosives and with rockets fired from northern Iraq.

Clashes between the PKK and Turkey's security forces resumed last year after a tenuous cease-fire collapsed.

Since then, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to Anadolu. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed.

Turkey and its allies consider the PKK a terror organization.